.\" $NetBSD: motd.5,v 1.2 1994/12/28 18:58:53 glass Exp $ .\" .\" This file is in the public domain. .\" $FreeBSD$ .\" .Dd July 20, 2019 .Dt MOTD 5 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm motd .Nd file containing message(s) of the day .Sh DESCRIPTION The file .Pa /var/run/motd is normally displayed by .Xr login 1 after a user has logged in but before the shell is run. It is generally used for important system-wide announcements. During system startup, a line containing the kernel version string is prepended to .Pa /etc/motd.template and the contents are written to .Pa /var/run/motd . .Pp Individual users may suppress the display of this file by creating a file named .Dq Pa .hushlogin in their home directories or through .Xr login.conf 5 . .Sh FILES .Bl -tag -width $HOME/.hushlogin -compact .It Pa /etc/motd.template The template file that system administrators can edit. .It Pa /var/run/motd The message of the day. .It Pa $HOME/.hushlogin Suppresses output of .Pa /var/run/motd . .El .Sh EXAMPLES .Bd -literal FreeBSD 2.1.6.1-RELEASE (GENERIC) #0: Sun Dec 29 03:08:31 PST 1996 /home is full. Please cleanup your directories. .Ed .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr login 1 , .Xr login.conf 5 .Sh HISTORY Prior to .Fx 13.0 , .Nm lived in .Pa /etc .